Retort-furnace.



No. 654,066. Patented .luly I7, |900.

R. E. LAUGK. RETURT FURNACE. (Application led Feb. 27, 1099.)

2 Sheets--Sheet luw Nm,

W/nesses mi Nonms PzTEns co. 'Houuma. WASHINGTON, n, c.

No'. 654,066. 'Patented luly 17,119.00. n. E. LAucK.

BET'OBT FURNACE.

(Application med Fab. 27, 1899.) (N0 Model.) l 2 Sheets-.Shad 2 1| [IM itil!!! Witnesses jnvenor ROBERT E. LAUOK, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

REToRT-FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 654,066, dated Julyl'?, 1900. Application filed February 27, 1899. Serial No. 707,071. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT E. LACK, of Kansas Oity, Jackson county, Missouri, have invented certain new and useful 'Improvements in Retort-Furnaces, of Which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a retort-furnace for transforming bituminous coal or peat into a hard coal or high-grade fuel; and my object is to produce a furnace whereby practically all of the volatile matter is driven off from the fuel and the latter in a pulverized condition kept in continuous motion from the time it enters until the time it leaves the furnace, all of this being leffected at a temperature sufficiently low toavoidcokingthe fuel. To this end the invention consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction and combinations of parts, as Will be hereinafter described and claimed, and in order that the invention may be fully understood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure 1 is a vertical section of the retortfurnace. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged horizontal section of one of the retorts detached from the furnace. Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line V V of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the feed-hopper connected to the topmost of said retorts, said section being taken on the line Vl VI of Fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a section taken on the line VII VII of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is adetail plan view of the burner for raising the retorts to therequired temperature.

As a preliminary to the detailed description of the invention and its operation it is desirable to state, further, that my object contemplates subjecting theslack of bituminous coal, peat, or its equivalent material to a treatment of dry distillation, at the same time keeping the fuel in constant motion and in a comminuted condition in order that practically all of the volatile matter of such fuel shall be separated from the carbon Without coking the fuel, leaving the resultant product in the form of a combination of'practically-pure carbon and non-combustible matter in a pulverized and intimately-mixed condition. ln practice the fuel is first pulverized, if necessary, and in that condition disopening 6 in the front end ofthe intervening' partition.

7 8 designate cylindrical retorts Which occupy chambers 3 and 4, respectively, of the furnace, and 9 10 similar retorts which occupy chamber 5,the retorts 9 and 10, however, differing from the others in that they are formed With encircling Water or air jackets for reducing the temperature of the heated carbon in the retorts, said retorts being preferably supported in position by the usual brackets 7a, 8, 9a, and 10a, respectively, which are mortised in the furnace-Walls. (See Fig. 3.) All of said retorts project forward through the front Wall of the furnace, and each is provided near its center With a pipe 1l, leading from its upper side through the side Wall of the furnace to carry off the volatile matter released by the dry distillation to which the fuel is subjected, as hereinafter explained.

The rear ends of the retorts 7 and 8 are connected by an upright pipe r12. The retorts 8 and 9 are connected near the front ends of the furnace by the upright pipe 13, and the cooling-retorts are connected at their rear ends by the upright pipe 14, these pipes being utilized as the means whereby the fuel passes down through the vertical series or gang of retorts. y

15 designates Water or air jackets surrounding the cooling-retorts 9 10, the cooling agent, be it Water or air, entering the jacket of retort 10 by Way of pipe 16 and escaping from the jacket of retort 9 by Way of pipe 18, the

water passing from the jacket of retort 10 to the jacket of retort 9 through the connecting-pipe 17 near the rear ends of the retorts, it being understood, of course, that a continuous circulation of cool Water or air is established and maintained through said jackets in order to reduce the temperature of the hot carbon as quickly as practicable.

The rear end of each retort is formed centrally with a bearing-socket 19, and project- IOO i'ng horizontally inward from the wall of each retort is a comb 20, said comb extending from the rear end of the retort forward to the partition 21, having a central opening through which extends the shaft 22, said shaft being journaled at its rear end in the bearing-socket 19 and provided with a reduced extension 22 at its front end, that portion of the shaft between the partition 21 and its rear end being provided with a spiral conveyer 23 of skeleton form, the teeth of said conveyer being adapted once in each revolution of the shaft to pass between the teeth of the comb hereinbefor'e described, with the effect of not only forcing the fuel positively toward the discharge end of the retort, but also keeping it in its pulverized condition by causing constant disintegration of the mass as the teeth of the conveyer pass between the teeth of the comb, this passage also serving to keep said teeth clean land in good working order.

The reduced extension of each shaft extends through the head 24 of the retort and through the packing-box 25, carried thereby, and confined within the retort between said head and the partition 2l is a substance 26,

.such as asbestos or any poor conductor of .the lower half 27 of the boxing being formed integral with the head 24 by preference, while the upper half 28 is in the form of a removable cap.

29 designates sprocket-wheels which are jonrnaled upon the extensions 22a of the shafts of retorts 7 8, and 9, and each sprocketwheel is formed with a clutch member 30 at its inner side, said wheel beingr prevented from slipping oi the end of the shaft by means of the plate 3l flanging over the end of the shaftand secured thereto by means of a screw 32. (See Fig. 3.)

33 designates a companion clutch member for each clutch 30, said clutch members being mounted to slide but not to rotate upon the shaft in the customary manner and engaged by levers 34, pivoted to brackets 35, projecting from thebearing-boxes hereinbefore described.

36, Fig. 1, designates a sprocketwheel mounted upon the shaft of retort 10, and 37 three similar wheels which are connnected bythe sprocket-chains 38, 39, and 40 with the sprocket-wheels 29 of the shafts of retorts 9, 8, and 7, respectively, and mounted upon the extreme front end of the shaft of retort 10 is a belt-wheel 41, the front end of the shaft being journaled in an auxiliary bearing 42.

43 designates a smoke-stack extending upward from the top of the furnace near its front end, and 44 a hopper forward of said stack and provided with a narrow chamber 45 and tubular discharge-stem 46, the latter being connected to the pipe 47, leading to the interior of the retort 7, just rearward of the partition 21, the capacity of the stem 46 and chamber 47 being about equal to that of the connecting-pipes 12, 13, and 14, so as to eliminate any chance of choking the retorts by an overfeed. At the junction of the flaring portion of the hopper with the narrow chamber 45 is formed a semicircular offsetting-chamber 48, through which axially extends the shaft 49, upon which is mounted the radialwinged rotary valve 50, the shaft of said valve carrying at one end a toothed wheel 5l, the

teeth being beveled and corresponding in "number and relative position to the wings 'of `the valye and successively engaged by a spring 5 2, the pressure of the latter being gaged to prevent an accumulation of fuel upon the wing of the valve under a given weight from operating the same. When this weight is attained, the spring 52 yields and the charge of fuel is dumped down into the narrow chamber 45, the following wing serving to prevent any further discharge therein of fuel until the accumulation reaches the predetermined Weight, by which time the said chamber 45 has been emptied by the rotation of the longitudinally fluted or corrugated roller 53, the shaft of which is journaled in the hopper-casing and is driven by the engagement of a belt (not shown) with the belt-wheel 54. Another feature of this hopper `construction is that it also prevents the egress of gas from and the ingress of air to the retort, thus making it possible to provide acontinuous distillation of coal and manufacture of gas, all other retorts with which I am familiar being plugged up after receiving a charge of coal, the plug being removed to permit the coke to l be removed and a fresh ch argeof fuel inserted. The roller 53 by reason of its peculiar form and because of the fact that it fits snugly in the lower end of the chamber 45 conducts the fuel in said chamber to the stem 46 in successive charges and also acts as a crushing-roll to insure that the fuel is broken up into small particles, it being obvious that the roll will not convey from chamber 45 to stem 46 a` larger amount of fuel than can be stored conveniently in one of the grooves of the fluted or corrugated roller, it being understood that said grooves successively take the fuel from chamber 45 and discharge it into` the stem 46. (See Figs. 5 and 6.)

55 designates a box set partially under the furnace and provided with a door 56 and an opening with which connects the lower end of an inclined elevator-casing 57. The box also contains a mixing-chamber 58, arranged to receive the carbon and non-combustible matter discharged through the vertical pipe 10",

i depending from the retort 10a near its front end, said mixing-chamber having an opening in its bottom and a sloping extension 59.

60 designates a rotary double cone-shaped ,grinder arranged centrally of the mixingchamber and mounted upon the upper end of shaft 61, suitably journaled in the mixingchamber casing and in the step-bearing 62,

IOD

654,066 f i e said shaft being provided with a belt-wheel 62, to which motion is imparted by any suitable means (not shown) for revolving the grinder at a high speed. The elevator-casing 57 contains the endless conveyer 64, provided with cups or buckets 64b, and engaging at its lower end the guide-roller 64, suitably journaled within box 55.

The mechanism above described is adapted to insure that the fuel discharged from the retort-furnace shall be finely comminuted or ground and conveyed from the box 55 in a continuous stream by means of the endless conveyer to any suitable point; but to this box and its contained mechanism I make no claim in this application.

156 designates a supply-pipe for petroleum or other liquid fuel, and said pipe projects in the furnace and underlies the front end of retort S, terminating at such point in aburner formed by perforating the pipe and providing it with the perforated branch pipes 157, the front end of the pipe 156 being closed by the cap 158 or its equivalent. (See Figs. 1, 2, and 7 The general operation is as follows: Petroleum is admitted to the furnace through the pipe 156 and is ignited at the burner-orifices by introducing a lighted taper through the opening la in the front end of the furnace. Pulverized fuel-such as coal-slack, peat-bog, or analogous substance-is poured into the hopper 44, preferably in a continuous stream, and as the weight upon the valve 50 reaches a predetermined height the valve makes a quarter-turn and dumps the charge down into chamber 45, whence it is discharged in successive small charges by the roller 53 down through pipes 46 and 47 into the front end of the retort 7, which by this time shall have attained a temperature sufficiently high to drive off the lighter volatile matters from the fuel in said retort by the process of distillation, it being understood, of course, that the spiral conveyers of said retorts are in operation driven by wheel 41, so as to cpnvey the fuel in the proper direction. The fuel as it reaches the rear end of the retort 7 is forced down in a continuous stream through pipe 12 into retort S and'isc'ondiicted forward by the conveyer of the latter under a higher temperature in order that all but a very small per cent. of the remaining volatile matter shall be driven off by the process of dry distillation through pipe 1l of retort 8, such volatile matters passing, as hereinbefore eX- plained, to a suitable receiver. (Not shown.) By the time the fuel reaches the front end of the retort 8 there remains practically nothing but carbon and non-combustible matter, and this carbon and non-combustible matter is forced down through pipe 13 into the retort 9, surrounded by cooling-jackets, through which cold water or air circulates. This carbon and non-combustible matter is then conveyed to the rear end of said retort 9 and is the temperature of the carbon and non-combustible matter as it reaches discharge-pipe 10a of retort 10 shall be reduced in the de'- sired degree.

150 designates a valve-controlled pipe ar= ranged to spray pitch upon the comminuted fuel discharged from the retort through pipe 10a', this pitch being designed to act as a binder for said fuel, so that it may retain any shape in which it may be subsequently compressed. binder on the fuel, however, Imake no claim.

From the above description it will be ap-A parent that I have produced a retort-furnace which embodies the features of advantage enumerated in the statement of invention, and it is to be understood that I reserve the right to make such changes in the detailed construction, form, arrangement, or propor= tions of parts as will not be a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a retort-furnace, a retort having its front end projecting through the furnace-wall, and comprising a casing having an inlet-port near one end and an outlet-port at the other, and provided with an internal comb, a perforated partition at the frontend of the comb and furnace, a non-conductor of heat lling the casing forward of the partition, and a shaft journaled in the casing and extending through the partition, and provided with a skeleton spiral conveyer, the teeth of which pass between those of the comb, substantially as described.

2. In a retort-furnace, a retort having its front end projecting through the furnace-wall, and comprising a casing, having aninlet-port near the front end of the furnace, and an outlet-port at its rear end, and provided with an internal bearing-socket at its rear end and a bearing-head provided with a stuffing-box at its front end, and provided also with an internal stationary comb, a partition 21 for-A ward of the inlet-port, a non-conductor of heat filling the casing forward of the partition, a shaft extending through the partition and journaled in the bearing-head, and at its rear end in the bearing-socket, and provided with a skeleton spiral conveyer, the teeth of which pass between those of the comb, and means to rotate said shaft, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature Witnesses:

IWI. R. REMLEY, HELEN RoDGERs.

To the idea of spraying pitch or a- IOO IIO

IZO 

